PLANET CHOCKO – art/music/movies/beyond

You could tell from the rowdiness and enthusiasm of the audience that this was going to be a fun film to watch! The Lost Arcade was a story of an old dive of an arcade on Mott Street known as the Chinatown Fair which dates back about 5 decades old. The Chinatown Fair was housed on the ground floor and an even more historic tenant lived on the 2nd floor dating back from 1897. It was Chinatown’s earliest & finest restaurant – Port Arthur. This restaurant closed its door in 1974. I asked my family about the the Port Arthur & the Chinatown Fair and they remembered it vividly. My grandfather had immigrated to NYC in the late 1960s living in a tenement building on Elizabeth Street between Broome and Spring. My parents shortly followed.

(the dark,dank,& narrow Chinatown Fair)

(Port Arthur Chinese Restaurant from 1897-1974 – 2nd floor above Chinatown Fair)

(Photo by China Press)

(Dancing Chicken at the Chinatown Fair circa 1975 courtesy of Channel Ed/Youtube)

The Lost Arcade doesn’t spend too much time going back in history but they did have some great archives of video footage and stills of the arcade from the 70s & 80s including the famous dancing chicken and tick tack toe chicken! Poor chicken with the heat pad under its feet! I always thought it was an electrical shock that moved the chicken! Director Kurt Vincent and writer/producer Irene Chin followed the culture and cult community of fighting gamers from the Chinatown Fair when they heard rumblings that the Fair was closing.

(L to R – Director/Kurt Vincent, Producer/Writer/Irene Chin, Akuma/gamer/former employee @ Chinatown Fair)

The heart and soul of the Chinatown Fair community was diverse to say the least including the Pakistani owner himself – Sam Palmer. Sam was the enabler and papa smurf that everyone came to trust and love often leaving the arcade open until 3-5am.The 2 main characters that the documentary followed was Henry – a street fighter game enthusiast turned employee of the Chinatown fair and Akuma, a foster kid being shuffled between families until he started living on the streets, subways, and spending his days in the arcade. When Sam is forced to close the Chinatown Fair, Henry and Akuma stepped up to create the next generation of gaming arcades they called Next Level. Though Next Level is located on 8th ave in Brooklyn, the scene and DNA encompassed what the Chinatown Fair left behind. The original Chinatown Fair on Mott Street eventually reopened with new owner Lonnie Sobel at the helm but the arcade games were less of the fighting kind and more on the dance/music themed arcades as well as concentrating on more family oriented games.

An honorable mention from the production of The Lost Arcade has to go to the music composer Gil Talmi. The soundtrack of the film added 1 more bit of excellence to the party! The analog composition of electronica with synth truly complimented the mysterious Chinatown Fair. The OST made me feel submerged in the 8 bit circuit of a Donkey Kong game while the music of William Lustig’s Maniac and John Carpenter films messed with my mind! The Q/A after the screening of The Lost Arcade on Saturday revealed that Gil Talmi used a synth module that contained a synth chip from the old old Commodore 64 to make spontaneous – unpredictable sounds! Amazing! I’ll have to track down The Lost Arcade soundtrack when it becomes available!

(L to R – Lonnie Sobel/Current owner Chinatown Fair, Music composer/Gil Talmi, Dir/Kurt Vincent, Producer/Irene Chin, Akuma/former employee Chinatown Fair, Anthony/long time gamer Chinatown Fair)

The traditional arcade, one that doesn’t depend on food, alcohol, or any types of entertainment besides the games itself is a dying breed. Get a glimpse of one of the oldest ones still surviving in the City – THE LOST ARCADE!.

The Lost Arcade screens at 12:45 PM, Wed Nov 18, 2015 | IFC Center. Click HERE for more info.